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A review by georgiatwiss
When We're Thirty by Casey Dembowski
5.0
Thank you to Net Galley and Red Adept Publishing for this ARC in exchange for a fair and honest review.
Ok, not going to lie, this book is not what I expected from the explanation and the cover. I went in thinking that this would be another fun fake-relationship/marriage of convenience mixed with friends to lovers and second chance romance light read, when in fact it was so so so much more. For people who read Beach Read by Emily Henry, this book gave me similar vibes.
The plot follows college friends Hannah Abbott, a music journalist stuck in a job that provides her with no health benefits and next to no opportunity for career advancement and a boyfriend who barely tries; and Will Thorne, a lawyer whose ex-girlfriend is now engaged to his brother who she cheated on him with and a job in the family business that is rife with tension and drama. The night after her thirtieth birthday, Will shows up at Hannah's door and instigates the marriage pact the two made on the night of their college graduation: if they were both single at thirty they would get married. Knowing that for both of them marriage would solve key problems in their lives, they take a risk (not without a 5 part list of rules) and tie the knot. What follows is a heartfelt and nuanced exploration of friendship, families, and love in the modern world.
The thing that struck me most about this book is the way that Casey Dembowski created two main characters and also a group of side characters who were completely raw and imperfect human beings. We are so often inundated by stories with idealized characters who never do anything wrong, or if they do, it's entirely justified within the plot--but this makes them, in many ways, inhuman. In real life, we are messy and don't always do or say the right things, and yet we all still deserve love and forgiveness from the people we love, as well as the freedom to love and forgive ourselves. Hannah and Will exemplify this and I am so thankful that Dembowski allowed them to inhabit the pages of the book in this way, and also make it look easy when in fact it's very difficult to do!
I look forward to whatever comes next from Casey Dembowski (Kate?! Daniel?!) !
Ok, not going to lie, this book is not what I expected from the explanation and the cover. I went in thinking that this would be another fun fake-relationship/marriage of convenience mixed with friends to lovers and second chance romance light read, when in fact it was so so so much more. For people who read Beach Read by Emily Henry, this book gave me similar vibes.
The plot follows college friends Hannah Abbott, a music journalist stuck in a job that provides her with no health benefits and next to no opportunity for career advancement and a boyfriend who barely tries; and Will Thorne, a lawyer whose ex-girlfriend is now engaged to his brother who she cheated on him with and a job in the family business that is rife with tension and drama. The night after her thirtieth birthday, Will shows up at Hannah's door and instigates the marriage pact the two made on the night of their college graduation: if they were both single at thirty they would get married. Knowing that for both of them marriage would solve key problems in their lives, they take a risk (not without a 5 part list of rules) and tie the knot. What follows is a heartfelt and nuanced exploration of friendship, families, and love in the modern world.
The thing that struck me most about this book is the way that Casey Dembowski created two main characters and also a group of side characters who were completely raw and imperfect human beings. We are so often inundated by stories with idealized characters who never do anything wrong, or if they do, it's entirely justified within the plot--but this makes them, in many ways, inhuman. In real life, we are messy and don't always do or say the right things, and yet we all still deserve love and forgiveness from the people we love, as well as the freedom to love and forgive ourselves. Hannah and Will exemplify this and I am so thankful that Dembowski allowed them to inhabit the pages of the book in this way, and also make it look easy when in fact it's very difficult to do!
I look forward to whatever comes next from Casey Dembowski (Kate?! Daniel?!) !